Thursday, August 29, 2013

The Falls, GO Transit's summer service

Niagara Falls is a fun destination and a popular get away destination during the summer for Torontonians.
I have been to the Falls a few times, via QEW, driving past Oakville, Burlington, and St. Catherines. Each trip took a bit longer than the suggested two hours due to high volume of traffic.

When GO transit Tweet appeared in my feed telling about a direct service, naturally I became very interested to use it.

We missed the outbound train on Saturday August 24. On weekends there are three outbound direct trains; connecting Toronto's Union St. to Niagara Falls' Via St. The departure times are at 9:00 am, 16:15 pm, and 20:10 pm. We took the train to the Burlington GO station and transferred to the bus to Niagara Falls. The trip took close to three hours!
But coming back we took the 7:20 PM direct train to Toronto Union station. The trip took 2:30 hours. The inbound direct trains are at 8:00 am, 11:30 am, 19:20 pm, and 22:30 pm. The train stops at Exhibition, Port Credit, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catherines, and Niagara Falls. There are designated compartments with bike storage.
A few good points: it beats the weekend traffic, and it is direct (eliminates the transfer to the bus at Burlington)
One not so good point: it is limited to a few times a day on weekends between June 28-Sept. 2.
I understand that the service makes sense when there is demand for it.
In fact the Niagara Falls bus service offered by Niagara Parks also runs full service during June 28-Sept. 2. providing convenient transport to attractions around the Falls, adult $7; child $4 for 24-hour pass. This makes June-Sept the best time of the year to travel to Niagara Falls.